Third-Party Candidates Gain in New Zealand Disgruntled Voters Turn to New Faces after Economic Woes, Cutbacks

TWENTY months ago, the people of Mt. Roskill, New Zealand sent
an angry rebuke to their usual favorite, the then-ruling Labor
Party, and voted for the conservative National Party.

If an election were held today, many of those same voters say
they would dump the National Party and vote for a third party.

"The people have been pummeled," says Robert King, an unemployed
marine plumber and 30-year resident of this working-class suburb of
Auckland.

Voters are furious with both parties because of tough economic
policies which have deregulated industries, removed protective
tariffs, and undermined labor unions. At the same time, both
parties cut back social programs such as free health care and
education, replacing them with "user pays" fees. The result has
been a dramatically reduced workforce and a 10.5 percent national
unemployment rate.

Bitter feelings are widespread.

"It's reflected in all polls regionally or nationally, whatever
the timing," says Stephen Levine, a political scientist at Victoria
University in Wellington. "There is a dislike of the government and
the prime minister personally."

In an independent poll, conducted May 29, 66 percent of
respondents did not think Prime Minister Jim Bolger was doing his
job properly; only 27 percent were satisfied with his performance.
Mr. Bolger has done much worse in other polls, receiving as low as
5 percent, which when compared to the margin of error has implied
that perhaps no one approved of his performance.

Voter disillusionment has helped the Alliance, a group of
political outcasts made up of Greens, Liberals, Maori natives, and
Democrats. Led by Jim Anderton, leader of the New Labor Party and
the only Alliance member of parliament, the group has received as
much as 17 percent support in opinion polls.

The Alliance has put together a platform that includes a return
to New Zealand's 1960s style of socialism: free education and
medical service, a "social wage" package, and increased spending on
housing. …

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